Case Studies: What Success Looks Like

How to Reduce Development Costs While Acquiring Top Global Talent through USA-Infused Management Capabilities

The Challenge

A US-based manufacturer and retailer struggled under tremendous operational cost pressure. For years they existed with a heavy dependence on an under-performing global IT service provider. With productivity concerns, the cost of IT talent was accelerating year over year. The Company wanted to build its own IT capability in India but lacked the knowledge and resources to do it.

Experienced in global manufacturing operations and marketing, the Company owned an India-based entity. Initial attempts to establish an effective global IT capability in another region fell short. With no internal understanding of India’s IT strengths and cost pressures mounting, the Development Director shared, “We just didn’t know how to build a global IT team on our own.”

Trapped within a restrictive relationship with its IT services provider, the Company was eager to listen to an alternative solution. “When we heard about SMC Squared’s G2 ‘Rent-to-Own’ Global In-house Center model we were intrigued. But, when we discovered the breadth of their practical experience and deep knowledge, we listened and were impressed.”

A Better Way to Find the Right Fit

The Company worked with SMC Squared using its proprietary Strategic Assessment Mode to define a vision and operational plan. It is a powerful collaborative tool designed to understand historical context, specific needs, business expectations, and current capabilities. This analysis led to proposing SMC Squared’s G2 Global Capability Center designed and calibrated to fit the Company’s objectives, timeline, and success criteria.

“Given our experience with poor-performing IT service providers, many members of our team were skeptical. We had tremendous cost challenges combined with heavy IT demand from our growing business. I’m glad we tried something different, an innovative solution.”

Numbers Don’t Lie

The Company’s decision paid off in a big way. It now has a fully-functioning, high-performing IT team in India delivering 1 US FTE worth of work per 1 India FTE.

In under a year, from concept through execution, the Company has realized a 44% total cost of ownership (TCO) savings over their old IT services strategy. A three-year strategy is now in place with SMC Squared to unwind years of dependency and poor performing IT practices. This includes eliminating an overreliance on the onsite coordinator role which was a bottleneck to productivity and healthy communications.

“We are very happy with the results. The cost savings combined with the improved performance have exceeded our expectations. But more importantly, we’re excited to work with partners that guided us along the way. SMC Squared’s US enablement was both practical and effective in training our leadership.”

Turning a Plan into Reality

As part of its SMC Squared’s GIC program, they recruited and hired the Company’s technology director in India, then helped build a “right-sized” team aligned with HR department processes, skills-based leveling, and other hiring criteria. This established the foundation for how the Company’s India IT entity would perform, using SMC Squared’s experience in leading global teams as a cornerstone.

“SMC Squared’s US enablement really made the difference. We were focused on getting the talent hired cost-effectively. But that’s only half the story. We also needed to change how our team in the US operated. This wasn’t the old IT services ‘throw-it-over-the-wall, let-the-account-manager-handle-it-all business-as-usual’ process. It was a complete transformation of our local team’s tools to maximize the delivery performance of our global team.” Local/global replaced onshore/offshore and represented a new way of thinking about One Team.

SMC Squared’s G2 Global In-House Center model leveraged an employee-centric team with an expert US enablement program for companies who already have an entity in India. SMC Squared added a highly-productive, cost-effective global IT team to complement the Company’s local teams. The G2 has helped the Company reduce risk and reclaim control over its global IT talent.

 

We achieved a 44% TCO savings using SMC Squared’s GIC solution as compared with our old IT services strategy. The handcuffs came off and our ability to impact talent and mitigate risk improved.

Chief Information Officer

Reporting to COO

We are very happy with the results. With SMC Squared, we found an innovative solution to our complex IT talent puzzle.

Development Director

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